In our earlier patent disclosure, Ser. No. 11/583,505 (06821/07539), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, we describe a barrier assembly for sealing the gap between the frame of an industrial window and the rough opening of the building in which the window is received.
As shown in FIGS. 1-3, this glazing assembly takes the form of an elongated adaptor 32 carried by the window frame and a flexible sealing membrane 34 providing an air and moisture barrier for sealing building gap 27 formed between the window frame and the building framing members. Adaptor 32 defines a channel or “race” 36 for receiving a projection defined by flexible sealing membrane 34. Meanwhile, flexible sealing membrane 34 typically takes the form of a flexible sheet 38 and a projection or “dart” 46 projecting therefrom. Flexible sheet 38 defines in its longitudinal direction inside lateral edge 40 associated with the frame of the window, outside lateral edge 42 associated with the building's rough opening, and major face 44 between inside lateral edge 40 and outside lateral edge 42. In the particular embodiment shown, dart 46 extends from major face 44 of flexible sheet 38 proximate its inside lateral edge 40, while flexible sheet 38 is wide enough so that, when dart 46 is received in race 36 of adaptor 32, flexible sheet 38 can extend over and be sealed to the building's exterior structural wall, preferably to the inside or outside surface of this structural wall. Other structures are possible.
In accordance with this invention, it has been found that an even better air and moisture barrier can be provided with this arrangement if the portion of flexible sheet 38 inside dart 46, i.e., the portion of flexible sheet 38 arranged towards the window frame, is made wide enough to span and seal the gap that is often found between the different structural members which combine to form the window frame by sandwiching the glass panes of the window therebetween.
Thus, this invention provides a modified barrier assembly for sealing the building gap between the frame of a window and the rough opening of a building in which the window is received, the rough opening being defined by building framing members, the window frame being formed by multiple frame members which together define at least one frame gap therebetween, the barrier assembly comprising an adaptor carried by a first window frame member, the adaptor defining a channel along at least a majority of the perimeter of the window frame, and a flexible sealing membrane providing an air and moisture barrier between the window frame and the building framing members, the flexible sealing membrane being formed from multiple membrane sections, at least one of the membrane sections being formed from a flexible sheet and a projection integral with the flexible sheet, the flexible sheet defining an inner membrane portion associated with the window frame and an outer membrane portion associated with the building framing members, the inner membrane portion and the outer membrane portion each being wide enough so that when the projection is received in the channel of the adaptor, the inner membrane portion spans the frame gap while the outer membrane portion spans the building gap, thereby providing an air and moisture-proof barrier between the window frame and the associated building framing member.
In addition, this invention further provides a modified flexible sealing membrane capable of sealing the building gap between the frame of an industrial window and the rough opening in which the window is received, the modified flexible sealing membrane also being capable of sealing the frame gap between the different structural members which combine to form the window frame by sandwiching the glass panes of the window therebetween, the modified flexible sealing membrane comprising a flexible sheet defining an integral projection for receipt in an adaptor carried by the window frame, the flexible sheet defining on one side of the projection an outer membrane portion which is wide enough to seal the building gap, the flexible sheet defining on the other side of the projection an inner membrane portion which is wide enough to seal the frame gap.
Moreover, this invention also provides a corner membrane for use in forming the modified barrier assembly of this invention, this corner membrane comprising a flexible sheet having a major face having first and second projections thereon the flexible sheet further defining first and second inner membrane portions associated with respective first and second window frame side sections as well as first and second outer membrane portions associated with respective building framing members, the inner membrane portions being wide enough so that when the first and second projections are received in the channels of respective adaptors, the inner membrane portions span the frame gaps of respective frame side sections, the outer membrane portions being wide enough so that when the first and second projections are received in the channels of respective adaptors, the outer membrane portions span the building gaps adjacent respective frame side sections.